Statue
of Liberty Construction

The construction of the Statue of Liberty was originally
envisioned while Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, the architect, was
visiting the country of Egypt. That is the place where he saw
the construction of Suez Canal and was also the same place where
he got his inspiration and motivation to build a colossal statue
one day.

Little did he know that it would be the Statue of Liberty, the
very same landmark that will soon be considered and recognized
as one of the most important symbols of the United States.

For this project, he sought the assistance of Gustave Eiffel,
a French engineer who also designed the world-renowned Eiffel
Tower, for the proper designing of the Liberty's structure and
form.

And, just like any other monumental project, there have been many
subsequent delays to the Statue of Liberty construction and this
hindered Bartholdi's original plan of presenting it to the United
States on the fourth of July, year 1876.

However, a part of the statue that was finished was displayed at
the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia and this gave rise
the opportunity for Bartholdi to raise funds for the creation of
the pedestal that will serve as the foundation of the Liberty statue.
The head was also constructed and finished just on time to make
its formal presentation to the public during Paris Exposition on
the thirtieth of June, year 1878.

After a year, the design patent for the statue was finally released
to Bartholdi, and some of the original contents of that patent account
are still what we can generally see on the completed Statue of Liberty
itself includig a cloaked female figure that is holding a torch
which symbolizes the enlightenment of the world.

The pedestal for the statue was also completed on the year 1886
in the U. S. after the financing process was completed. Once the
Statue of Liberty construction had been completed in France, the
statue was then dismantled and was placed into separate crates ready
to be transported. It was not until after the completion of the
pedestal in the U. S. that the second Statue of Liberty construction
project began, which was the reassembling of all parts.

There have been many materials used for the successful construction
of the Statue of Liberty. A combination of terracotta, plaster of
Paris, special alloys of metals, iron bas-relief and some other
flexible and strong elements were used to construct the Statue of
liberty. The construction of the skeletal framework was accomplished
by Eiffel and was successfully done through the use of gridirons
that provided the shape and form of the project.

Maurice Koechlin, a trusted secretary of Eiffel, also helped on
finishing the very intricate details for the project, and both eventually
became successful in determining the right dimensions of the statue
and the necessary materials to be used to build and construct the
statue.

After being taken out of France in 1885, Lady Liberty finally arrived
in the harbor of New York and a year later, after several months
that its parts stayed inside the crates, it was successfully reassembled
within four months. The whole Statue of Liberty construction was
finally finished in July 1886 and with the cornerstone laid on the
fifth of August of the same year. Finally, 10 years past its due
date, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated the general public by
the late President Grover Cleveland on October 28, 1886.